The Klang Valley MRT project involves the construction of a railway network which will form the backbone of the region's public transport system.

The Klang Valley MRT project, which together with the existing rail and bus networks, will strive to complete the long-awaited public transportation masterplan for Greater Kuala Lumpur. The objective of the MRT project is to achieve the target of 50% of all journeys in the Greater Kuala Lumpur region to be made on public transport.

The first MRT line, or MRT Sungai Buloh-Kajang Line (MRT SBK) project was approved by the Government of Malaysia in December 2010 and the construction of the first line was officially launched on 8 July 2011 by Prime Minister Dato' Sri Mohd Najib bin Tun Abdul Razak.

The MRT will integrate with the Klang Valley’s existing rail transport network, namely the LRT, Monorail, KTM Komuter and ERL, as well as intra and inter-city bus routes. The end result will be better connectivity for Kuala Lumpur and its surrounding cities, while reducing the number of cars that enter the capital.

The Pusat Bandar Damansara elevated MRT station will provide park and ride facility, along with 13 other stations. – Pic by MRT Corp.

The first line, totalling a distance of 51km, will start from Sungai Buloh which is located to the north-west of Kuala Lumpur, runs through the city centre of Kuala Lumpur, and finally ends in Kajang, a fast developing city in Selangor located to the south-east of Kuala Lumpur.

The line serves a corridor with an estimated population of 1.2 million people. Phase 1 of MRT SBK from Sungai Buloh to Semantan will become operational by the end of 2016 while Phase 2 from Semantan to Kajang will become operational by July 2017, allowing trains to serve the entire line.

The Tun Razak Exchange underground MRT station will become the largest underground station. – Pic by MRT Corp.

The line will have an underground section for a distance of 9.5km. There will be 7 underground stations (out of the total of 31 stations) within downtown Kuala Lumpur providing seamless connection and a hassle-free travel experience to nearby plazas and walkways leading to the nearest offices, apartments, shopping malls and tourist attractions.

Each train serving the line will have four coaches having a total capacity of 1,200 passengers. Each train will be driverless. The daily expected ridership is about 442,000 passengers. The train service is expected to run at an interval of 3.5 minutes.

Since 30 May 2013, the world's first Variable Density Tunnel Boring Machine has been tunnelling beneath the city of Kuala Lumpur. It was commenced at the Cochrane Launch Shaft. – Pic by MRT Corp